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下面有3篇短文,每篇短文后有5道题,请根据短文内容,为每题确定1个最佳选项。 第一篇Pool Watch Swimmers can drown in busy swimming pools when lifeguards(救生员) fail to notice that they are in trouble. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents says that on average 15 people drown in British pools each year, but more suffer major injury after getting into difficulties. Now a French company has developed an artificial intelligence system called Poseidon that sounds the alarm when it sees someone in danger of drowning. When a swimmer sinks towards the bottom of the pool, the new system sends an alarm signal to a poolside(游泳池边) monitoring station and a lifeguard’s pager. In trials(试验)at a pool in Ancenis, near Nantes, it saved a life within just a few months, says Alistair McQuade, a spokesman for its maker, Poseidon Technologies. Poseidon keeps watch through a network of underwater and overheard video cameras. AI software analyses the images to work out swimmers trajectories(轨道). To do this reliably, it has to tell the difference between a swimmer and the shadow of someone being cast onto the bottom or side of the pool. "The underwater environment. Is a very dynamic one, with many shadows and reflections dancing around, " says McQuade. The software does this by "projecting" a shape in its field of view onto an image of the far wall of the pool. It does the same with an image from another camera viewing the shape from a different angle. If the two projections are in the same position, the shape is identified as a shadow and is ignored. But if they are different, the shape is a swimmer and so the system follows its trajectory. "To pick out potential drowning victims, anyone in the water who starts to descend slowly is added to the software’s "pre-alert" list," says McQuade. Swimmers who then stay immobile on the pool bottom for 5 seconds or more are considered in danger of drowning. Poseidon double-cheeks that the image really is of a swimmer, not a shadow, by seeing whether it obscures the pool’s floor texture when viewed from overhead (在头顶上). If so, it alerts the lifeguard, showing the swimmer’s location on a poolside screen. The first full-scale Poseidon system will be officially opened next week at a pool in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. One man who is impressed with the idea is Travor Baylis, inventor of the clockwork(时钟机构) radio. Baylis runs a company that installs swimming pools — and he was once an underwater escapologist (表演脱身术的人) with a circus. "I say full marks to them if this works and can save lives, " he says. But he adds that any local authority spending £30,000-plus on a Poseidon system ought to be investing similar amounts in teaching children to swim. What is required of AI software to save a life

A. It must be able to swim.
B. It must keep walking round the pool.
C. It can distinguish between a swimmer and a shadow.
D. It can save a life within a few months.

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第三篇 Preserving Nature for Future Demands for stronger protection for wildlife in Britain sometimes hide the fact that similar needs are felt in the rest of Europe. Studies by the Council of Europe, of which 21 counties are members, have shown that 45 percent of reptile(爬行类的) species and 24 percent of butterflies are in danger of dying out. European concern for wildlife was outlined by Dr Peter Baum, an expert in the environment and natural resources division of the council, when he spoke at a conference arranged by the administrators of a British national park. The park is one of the few areas in Europe to hold the council’s diploma for nature reserves of the highest quality, and Dr. Peter Baum had come to present it to the park once again. He was afraid that public opinion was turning against national parks, and that those set up in the 1960s and 1970s could not be set up today. But Dr. Baum clearly remained a strong supporter of the view that natural environments needed to be allowed to survive in peace in their own right. "No area could be expected to survive both as a true nature reserve and as a tourist attraction," he went on. The short-sighted(眼光短浅的) view that reserves had to serve immediate human demands for outdoor recreation should be replaced by full acceptance of their importance as places to preserve nature for the future. "We forget that they are the guarantee of life systems, on which any built-up area ultimately depends, " Dr. Baum went on, "We could manage without most industrial products, but we could not manage without nature. However, our natural environment areas, which are the original parts of our countryside, have shrunk to become mere(纯粹的) islands in a spoiled and highly polluted land mass." Why did Dr. Baum come to a British national park

A. Because he needed to present it with a council’s diploma.
Because he was concerned about its management.
C. Because it was the only national park of its kind in Europe.
D. Because it was the only park which had ever received a diploma from the Council.

第三篇 Preserving Nature for Future Demands for stronger protection for wildlife in Britain sometimes hide the fact that similar needs are felt in the rest of Europe. Studies by the Council of Europe, of which 21 counties are members, have shown that 45 percent of reptile(爬行类的) species and 24 percent of butterflies are in danger of dying out. European concern for wildlife was outlined by Dr Peter Baum, an expert in the environment and natural resources division of the council, when he spoke at a conference arranged by the administrators of a British national park. The park is one of the few areas in Europe to hold the council’s diploma for nature reserves of the highest quality, and Dr. Peter Baum had come to present it to the park once again. He was afraid that public opinion was turning against national parks, and that those set up in the 1960s and 1970s could not be set up today. But Dr. Baum clearly remained a strong supporter of the view that natural environments needed to be allowed to survive in peace in their own right. "No area could be expected to survive both as a true nature reserve and as a tourist attraction," he went on. The short-sighted(眼光短浅的) view that reserves had to serve immediate human demands for outdoor recreation should be replaced by full acceptance of their importance as places to preserve nature for the future. "We forget that they are the guarantee of life systems, on which any built-up area ultimately depends, " Dr. Baum went on, "We could manage without most industrial products, but we could not manage without nature. However, our natural environment areas, which are the original parts of our countryside, have shrunk to become mere(纯粹的) islands in a spoiled and highly polluted land mass." The last sentence in the second paragraph implies that

A. People should make every effort to create mere environment areas.
B. People would go on protecting national parks.
Certain areas of countryside should be left intact.
D. People would defend the right to develop the areas around national parks.

下面的短文有15处空白,请根据短文内容为每处空白确定1个最佳选项。 Pretty Good When Spanish football club Barcelona paid US $ 35 million for Ronaldinho last summer, they weren’t buying a pretty face. "I am (51) ," admits the Brazilian superstar (超级明星). "But everyone has got a different kind of beauty. What I (52) have is charm." Indeed he has. His buck teeth (龅牙), flowing hair, big smile, and of course his (53) skills are always eye-catching on the pitch. The 23-year-old striker(中锋) scored two goals in a 3-2 win over Deportivo La Coruna on March 1. It was Barcelona’s sixth win in a row and, thanks to their Brazilian’s 10goal contribution, (54) looked like a poor season could now end a success. Ronaldinho — full name Ronaldo De Assis Moreira — is one of many South Americans who learned their skills playing in the backstreets before (55) them off on the world stage. Great things were (56) when Gremio signed him as a seven-year-old, and he soon became friends with Ronaldo, who was then the other young star of Brazilian football. It was Ronaldo who first called him Ronaldinho, which (57) Little Ronaldo. He first (58) for his country in 1999 but it was at the 2002 World Cup where he showed his real worth, scoring an unbelievable free-kick in Brazil’s quarter-final victory (59) England. "I have never failed to deliver in big matches," Ronaldinho says, "My game is based on improvisation (即兴表演). Often a forward does not have the time to decide whether to shoot or (60) . It is instinct that gives out the orders." While he may not have David Beckham’s good looks, Ronaldinho has a (61) reputation off the pitch. At former club Paris Saint Germain, which Sold him to Barcelona, he broke (62) rules by going out and enjoying the city’s nightlife. "Without doubt, Ronaldinho is the most (63) player I have ever come across," says former PSG coach Luis Fernandez, "The main (64) for any coach is that one player without discipline can hurt the whole team." But Ronaldinho doesn’t think he has done anything wrong. "I am just a young person who enjoys (65) ," he says.

A. dangerous
B. frightening
C. awful
D. brilliant

第二篇 Don’t Count on Dung "Conservationists(自然保护主义者)may be miscalculating the numbers of the threatened animals such as elephants, " say African and American researchers. The error occurs because of a flaw in the way they estimate animal numbers from the piles of dung(粪)the creatures leave behind. The mistake could lead researchers to think that there are twice as many elephants as there really are in some regions according to Andrew Plumptre of the Wildlife Conservation Society(WCS) in New York. Biologist Katy Payne of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, agrees. "We really need to know elephant numbers and the evidence that we have is quite indirect, "says Payne, who electronically tracks elephants Counting elephants from planes is impossible in the vast rainforests of Central Africa. So researchers often estimate elephant numbers by counting dung piles in a given area. They also need to know the rate at which dung decays because it’s extremely difficult to determine these rates. However, researchers counting elephants in one region tend to rely on standard decay rates established elsewhere. "But researchers at the WCS have found that this decay rate varies from region to region depending on the climate and environment. Using the wrong values can lead the census astray(离开正道)," says Plumptre. He and his colleague Anthony Chifu Nchanji studied decaying elephant dung in the forests of Cameroon. They found that the dung decayed between 55 and 65 per cent more slowly than the dung in the rainforests of neighbouring Gabon. If researchers use decay rates from Gabon to count elephants in Cameroon, they would probably find more elephants than are actually around. "This could mean estimates in Cameroon are at least twice as high as those derived from decay rates calculated locally," says Plumptre "However accurate your dung density estimate might be the decay rate can severely affect the result." Plumptre also says that the dung-pile census should be carried out over a region similar in size to an elephant’s natural range. The usual technique of monitoring only small, protected areas distorts numbers because elephants move in and out of these regions, he says" If the elephant population increases within the protected area, you can not determine whether it is a real increase or whether it is due to elephants moving in because they are being poached(入侵偷猎)outside. " Plumptre says that similar problems may also affect other animal census studies that rely on indirect evidence such as nests, tracks or burrows(地洞). Why do researchers estimate elephant numbers in an area by counting dung piles

A. Because elephants are difficult to catch.
Because it is not possible to count elephants from a plane.
C. Because it is not possible to keep track of elephants.
D. Because elephants are shy animals.

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